Some quotes, although they sound cool, may not be logical and in fact sometimes downright stupid.

I’m saying this because I’ve seen quotes or people quoting quotes where the quote sounds cool, but may not fit in the circumstances at certain times. I remember a user quoting on Yahoo News that he doesn’t trust presidents that have affairs because if their wives can’t trust him, then why should the country? Even though they are both tied to the concept of ‘trust’, the circumstances in those situations are different. Someone who can’t be trusted in a relationship doesn’t mean he cannot be trusted in general, we can only assume he can’t be trusted in one aspect of the life and be given a benefit of a doubt in other areas.

An average intelligence is an intelligence better than all other intelligences; you get to know what the average person is thinking, and that’s better than average.

Sometimes we wish we were richer, more athletic, or smarter. But we need to think out of the box sometimes to appreciate our gifts. For example with the quote above, sometimes it pays not to be the brightest or smartest. If you were a genius, you wouldn’t have many people understanding you. I know my dad was really, really, really smart, and sometimes he just doesn’t understand why I wouldn’t understand the things he did, or in fact why anyone else couldn’t understand.

To emphasize my point even further, even Warren Buffett said the Mensa Investment Club underperformed the S&P 500 from 1986 to 2001. Now I don’t exactly know why they underperformed, it could be for many reasons, but it only shows that the market, which is composed of many many participants less intelligent than the Mensa group, moves in a way not even the highest IQ people in the world can predict.

Update: I JUST realized this post entry is very similar in terms of what I’m trying to say to a previous post that I’ve done many months ago, and I apologize in advance. But I like the quote I just made so yeah. Anyway the post I’m referring to is called ‘Power is Responsibility’, feel free to read and comment.

I’m often annoyed by many things. My pet peeves include anal retentive people, bad breath, #nobigdeal, and the list goes on. Today though I’m going to focus on people’s tendency to say things or like things when in comparison it’s hard to really understand unless you walked in that person’s shoes. I know, that last sentence was confusing, so let me explain.

Now I don’t know if it’s just me, but my mom is one of those people that often tells me how I should appreciate what I have because many other people in the world are living below poverty, are born with incurable diseases or physical disabilities, and just basically don’t have the spending power that I tend to abuse. An easy example is pointing out to the people in Africa as their economy and technology isn’t as developed as compared to other developed countries. As much as I can see her point, (and she grew up differently than I did so that makes her have a different perspective) the thing is it’s an unfair standard for me to measure up against because we live in different ways. It’s like comparing the speed of an airplane to a car, the standards to measure these two cannot be compared directly just because they are both modes of transportation. For example, I grew up with affluent kids. My problems include how to be cool, how to get good grades, and how to look good. Yes I have first world problems, but this is my life and these problems are what is concerning me right now. In unfortunate parts of the world, their problems may be how to get food, how to stay warm, how to get money, and in fact how to stay out of war or violence going on in the territory. I’m not saying that I’m just going what the fuck to these problems, I know it’s tough for these people and I am genuinely wishing the best for them, and in fact I’ve donated to charities to help these people, but to say that I shouldn’t spend so much because other people don’t even have the luxury for 1 US dollar to spend per day isn’t a justifiable comparison. My basic standards of living are met and as humans, nothing will satisfy us; we will always have some problems to solve or some wants to be met, and in my affluent background and first world problems, what concerns me most at the current moment is how do I attract the girl I like or how I could persuade my parents to buy me a better car. It’s hard for me to understand what it’s like to be in famine, poor, and in desperation when in all likelihood the probability of something like that happening to my life all of a sudden is low and the fact that I’m not experiencing right now makes me unable to ‘feel’ what it’s like to be poor. I can appreciate, but that’s all I can do. Instead, you could tell me someone who is in the same affluent background who has a better car than me did so by working her way to get the money and that I shouldn’t rely on my parents’ money, I think that makes a much better argument and a better comparison.

So what really ticks me off sometimes is that people laud for the riches and the celebrities for modestly spending. I mean I’m happy for those modest spenders as well. But it seems that some people applaud them because they spend the minimum; I don’t think that really is the right attitude here. What I’m happy for those people is that they spend according to their means. If you’re rich and you can buy lamborghinis without being bankrupt and don’t act all showy off about it then by all means I’m happy for you, life’s too short not to have some fun anyway. Again the point of emphasis here is relativeness; we should be appreciating someone for spending below their means, not because someone is famous or rich and spending very little.

Over the years, I’ve found that as I grew older, the time I could spare for my loved ones, my family and friends, seem to become less and less because of meeting new friends and clients, and work. What used to be a routine now would require me efficient time management to see them at least once a month, and as months pass and you meet more new people, these meetings become more and more difficult.

By realizing this, I’ve realized that the time I have with my loved ones is becoming more and more scarce, hence the more valuable. As such, each minute I create with them is each opportunity for me to create a personal and intimate connection. However, one concept that has recently been intruding into this connection period are technological disruptions, particularly since the birth of smartphones.

The smartphones are a thing of beauty, a creation designed to allow us to do more things in one device and to connect to our family and friends more easily. But ironically, with this convenience, our time spent with each other becomes more shallow. We don’t create emotional connections when someone else is planning a meeting with other people on the smartphones at the same time.

Call me old fashion, but I think the purpose of meeting somebody else out is to create an emotional connection with him or her with minimal distractions. However, with the smartphone, one of us is going to feel disrespected or not being given attention to. It pretty much sends the message that we are too boring or uninteresting for you. Now, although this can be true sometimes, it still requires mutual respect for each other. Even if you say you can multitask, you are not giving the 110% attention to us, and our conscious and subconscious will, uncontrollably, have a disliking for somebody.

Note that I’m not advocating for 0% usage of smartphones when meeting with someone, but it should be kept to a bare minimum. Now I’m not gonna give you a guideline because I think everyone’s tolerance level varies, but I think we can all agree that having your smartphone beep every minute is quite annoying.

So I urge on that you maximize your meeting up time with real emotional connections with less technological distractions, especially as you grow older the time you have with each person becomes less, and the more important each minute is.